This pair of illustration boards painted by John Worsley appeared in the first ever edition of Treasure magazine, published 16/01/1963.

Willie Winkie proudly shows off his green ticket which will allow him to use any means of transport worldwide free of charge. Dashing through the streets of his native town wearing just slippers and stripy pyjamas in his excitement, Wee Willie reaches the train to London just in time to have his first adventure.

Worsley's fabulous watercolours capture the childhood innocence and sense of discovery and adventure that characterised the Wee Willie Winkie stories. The facial expressions even the incidental characters (including animals) are attributed, are rich and expressive, these placed in situ, and set against the fabulous scenes Worsley achieves through his fluid yet precise brushstrokes, makes for a fantastic board set which make up a piece of illustration art history.

The artist, who also worked as a portrait artist for the Metropolitan Police, uses his extraordinary skill to create life like characters both adults and children can identify and empathise with.

We must remember that Worsley spent time in a P.O.W. camp after being captured in then Yugoslavia, and yet achieves a fantastic liberation from the past by painting in such a fluid joyful manner. Worsley's work can be found in The Imperial War Museum, The Maritime Museum, The collection of HM The Queen, The Savage club and many other private collections including Royal Families, banks and Colleges. zTransport zChildren's zAdventure zAnimals